Another beautiful girl who can trigger a CG. Shikime Natsu originally thought those were all of them, but he didn't expect there to be a fish that slipped through the net.
Shikime Natsu became interested in this beautiful girl with dead fish eyes before him. Communicating with beautiful girls of different personalities always brought different experiences.
Especially just now, the moment their gazes met in the air, a hint of disgust flashed quite clearly within Himeno Yuki's lifeless dead fish eyes.
That's right, it was disgust.
Clearly seeing a handsome guy like him with god-tier looks, even if ordinary girls wouldn't blush or have their hearts skip a beat, they would at least take a few more looks, right?
Regardless of age, whether elderly or children, everyone holds appreciation for good-looking things.
But this beautiful girl was quite something. What was with that expression that said "this is trouble"?
Since she was looking at him with such rude eyes, Shikime Natsu wanted to get close to her even more.
The corners of Shikime Natsu's mouth rose slightly as he walked straight toward where Himeno Yuki was sitting.
In order not to attract the attention of the entire room, he specially used his 'Money Power' to restrain his own dazzling aura, trying his best to lower his presence.
Otherwise, if the gaze of the entire room pressed down on this somewhat unsociable girl along with him, it would probably scare her away directly.
Looking at the text under Himeno Yuki's CG—[Don't want to stay here]—Shikime Natsu could roughly judge that this was a typical player who was forced to participate.
Although she was unwilling a hundred times over in her heart, for the sake of so-called fitting in, she still endured the discomfort and came here.
This mindset of forcing oneself just to avoid being excluded is not uncommon among high school students. However, the fact that such a beautiful girl existed within the overall uplifting atmosphere of Class B surprised Shikime Natsu slightly.
However, Shikime Natsu quickly felt relieved. After all, even Class C had an angel like Shiina Hiyori.
Shikime Natsu still felt that Shiina Hiyori shouldn't stay in Class C. It was just that her communication skills were slightly weaker, and... she probably wasn't very good at sports either.
But she was a very smart beautiful girl.
At least in Shikime Natsu's view, she was much better than Sakayanagi Arisu in any case.
Mn, Shikime Natsu mentally dissed Sakayanagi Arisu again.
That little maid hadn't come over since their agreement expired, making Shikime Natsu slightly disappointed.
However, it didn't matter. Soon, Sakayanagi Arisu would return to the place she should return to.
Shikime Natsu plopped down on the empty seat next to Himeno Yuki, closing the distance between the two considerably.
"Yo."
Shikime Natsu greeted her very naturally, as if he and Himeno Yuki were very familiar.
Hearing the voice, Himeno Yuki's body stiffened slightly. She turned her head, her dead fish eyes glancing faintly at Shikime Natsu, and then she nodded slightly as a response.
Immediately after, she calmly scooted to the other side of the sofa, opening up the distance between herself and Shikime Natsu.
Obvious resistance.
But Shikime Natsu didn't care at all; he even wanted to laugh a little.
"Why is Himeno-san sitting here alone? Aren't you going to sing with Ichinose and the others?"
Shikime Natsu asked knowingly, his tone carrying a bit of curiosity.
Hearing this question, Himeno Yuki's brows furrowed imperceptibly.
The aura of "dying of annoyance" on her body became even stronger.
In her view, a normie handsome guy like Shikime Natsu, who came with his own glowing constitution, was absolutely the trouble among troubles.
"Sorry, I have a bit of a headache. I want to go back and rest a bit."
Himeno Yuki didn't answer Shikime Natsu's question. Instead, she stood up directly and raised her hand toward Ichinose Honami, who was chatting happily with everyone not far away.
Although her voice wasn't loud, in the slightly quiet interval, it was still accurately conveyed.
"? What's wrong, Yuki-chan? Are you uncomfortable?"
Hearing the voice, Ichinose Honami immediately handed the microphone to Amikura Mako beside her and walked over quickly, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.
"Do you need help? Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?"
"No need. Maybe the air here is a bit stuffy. I'll just go back and rest a bit."
Himeno Yuki shook her head.
"Sorry to spoil everyone's fun."
After saying that, she turned her head again and nodded apologetically to Shikime Natsu beside her, seemingly using this method to tell him: Look, I didn't join everyone because I'm not feeling well physically.
Her acting wasn't bad.
Looking at the girl's "weak" appearance, Shikime Natsu gave her acting skills a score of eight out of ten in his heart.
If it were someone who didn't know the inside story, they would probably really think she was unwell.
This was a lie. Shikime Natsu saw clearly that the girl was lying and then attempting to flee this place.
Shikime Natsu felt that even if he weren't here today, the girl would have found other excuses to leave.
Mn, mainly... regarding Himeno Yuki's situation, Ichinose Honami and the others probably hadn't thought about it either, right?
Clearly, the atmosphere looked very good, yet Himeno Yuki was thinking of leaving. This kind of thought was somewhat hard to understand.
If she didn't like it, shouldn't she just not come?
However, Shikime Natsu didn't expose her. Instead, he watched her walk out of the private room's door.
"Is Ichinose-san very worried about that classmate just now?"
Only when the private room door closed again did Shikime Natsu stand up and ask the worried-looking Ichinose Honami.
"Mn. Actually, Yuki-chan's health shouldn't be very good. When we come out to play, Yuki-chan basically always leaves halfway through. We originally wanted to take her to the infirmary, but... she wasn't very willing, and nothing has ever happened to her."
Ichinose Honami nodded, but her eyes still held a bit of worry.
"So that's how it is. By the way, Ichinose-san, I happen to have something to do and plan to go back. I'll go check on her, just to avoid any accidents on the way."
"Really? Then I'll leave it to you, Shikime-san!"
Hearing this, Ichinose Honami instantly breathed a sigh of relief. She clasped her hands together and looked at Shikime Natsu with a face full of gratitude. In Ichinose Honami's eyes, Shikime Natsu was a warm-hearted good person.
"It's just a small effort~"
Shikime Natsu smiled and turned to walk out of the private room. Himeno Yuki shouldn't have gone far yet.
If it were an average person seeing Himeno Yuki's attitude, they would probably have retreated in the face of difficulties long ago.
But, who was Shikime Natsu?
A veteran gal game player!
At a time like this, when the options [Chase after her] and [Don't chase] are clearly displayed in front of you, even a fool knows which one to choose.
Choosing the latter means there is a high probability of becoming strangers from then on, with no further interaction.
Only by actively attacking and creating opportunities for contact is it possible for feelings to grow over time!
Interacting more with cute girls is never a bad thing.
Shikime Natsu walked out of the karaoke place's main door, looked left and right, and quickly spotted Himeno Yuki's figure.
The girl didn't walk towards the dormitory. Instead, she turned into a quiet little corner, leaned against the wall, and took a deep breath of the fresh air outside.
It seemed she faked illness to come out for fresh air.
Shikime Natsu lightened his footsteps and walked over.
Himeno Yuki was enjoying the rare tranquility when she suddenly felt another person's presence beside her. She turned her head and saw it was Shikime Natsu; her originally relaxed brow instantly furrowed.
Her lips moved slightly.
"...So annoying..."
Her voice was very small, but Shikime Natsu's hearing was excellent, and he still clearly caught those words.
She was despising him for being annoying.
Shikime Natsu didn't mind. Instead, he walked to her side and leaned against the wall alongside her.
"Yo, Yuki-chan."
"My name is Himeno."
Before Shikime Natsu could finish speaking, Himeno Yuki emphasized her surname, directly pulling the sense of distance far away. She was truly quite cold.
"Himeno-san's headache seems to have healed quite quickly. Did it recover just by coming out to blow in the wind?"
Shikime Natsu's tone was teasing, directly poking through the fact that she was feigning illness.
Himeno Yuki fell silent.
Being caught red-handed, she didn't think of continuing to hide it, or perhaps she couldn't be bothered to fabricate lies anymore.
"I'm not used to staying in that kind of place."
The girl's voice was somewhat low, carrying a trace of imperceptible fatigue.
"Especially participating in class activities that are too frequent. That kind of atmosphere where you must act very happy and very gregarious makes me feel uncomfortable."
Mn... Clearly, she didn't act very happy, nor could one tell she was very gregarious.
But since the girl said so, let's treat it as such.
"Then why not directly refuse to participate?"
Shikime Natsu continued to press. This was asking while knowing the answer, but if he didn't guide the topic downward, this conversation would probably die.
If he answered "Oh" or "So that's how it is" at this time, the topic would probably end very quickly.
Something like a topic still had to be provoked by interrogative sentences.
"I'm not an extrovert like you, Shikime-san."
Himeno Yuki turned her head, those dead fish eyes quietly looking at Shikime Natsu.
"As an introvert, it's very hard for me to say such words of refusal."
Her self-awareness was very clear.
Introverts drift with the tide and aren't good at expressing their own wishes.
Even if she was unwilling a hundred times over in her heart, even if she felt these activities were boring to the extreme, she didn't want to cause trouble for the class. She didn't want people to feel she was a troublesome fellow, and she didn't want to destroy the class's so-called atmosphere of unity.
So, she could only choose to endure.
"Then do you want me to say it for you? Himeno-san?"
Shikime Natsu suddenly opened his mouth to propose.
"If you find it difficult to speak up, I can convey your true thoughts to Ichinose-san for you~"
"No, forget it..."
Himeno Yuki was silent for a while, then shook her head, rejecting Shikime Natsu's goodwill.
She turned her body away, casting her gaze into the distance.
"You should go back and join their karaoke, instead of wasting time on a boring person like me. However... please don't speak of my affairs to anyone. I beg you."
There was a trace of pleading in the girl's voice; obviously, she didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble because of this matter.
"No."
Shikime Natsu shook his head, turning sideways to look at the girl's profile.
"Staying with Himeno-san, I don't feel it is a waste of time."
"A frivolous extrovert's statement."
Himeno Yuki evaluated expressionlessly.
In her view, these pleasant-sounding diplomatic words were just rhetoric habitually used by normies.
"This isn't some frivolous statement; it's the truth~"
Shikime Natsu shrugged his shoulders.
"After all, we met eyes just now. So, I thought about becoming friends with Himeno-san. Now is the perfect opportunity, with just the two of us here."
Hearing these words, Himeno Yuki secretly said 'trouble' in her heart.
So it was because of meeting eyes?
She really should have closed her eyes and pretended to sleep back then. Being targeted by such a troublesome fellow, her future days would probably not be easy.
"Fine, then we count as having become friends. Is that okay?"
Himeno Yuki just wanted to quickly fudge it over and send this troublesome fellow away.
"Himeno-san, your words are too perfunctory, right? Clearly, you could have emphasized your given name just now."
Shikime Natsu was simply like a sticky plaster.
"Troublesome..."
Himeno Yuki muttered in a low voice, but there wasn't excessive impatience on her face. Chatting with this guy Shikime Natsu and speaking her true thoughts—rather than annoying, it was actually quite relaxing for the girl.
Of course, not too much stress was released; the girl still felt her heart was full of pressure.
And... she really had been entangled by a troublesome fellow.
She had already said so much, and her attitude was expressed so clearly, yet Shikime Natsu was still unwilling to leave.
Even though she was an introvert.
"Himeno-san is unhappy precisely because you always speak polite lies and wrong yourself to cater to others, right?"
Shikime Natsu looked at the girl, his tone suddenly becoming a few degrees more serious.
Himeno Yuki fell silent.
Indeed, she was irritable.
"Actually, I feel the students in Class B are all quite easy to talk to. Especially Ichinose-san; she is a very gentle person. If you spoke out the true thoughts in your heart, I think they would accept and understand you, right?"
"Perhaps..."
It was this kind of ambiguous answer again.
The girl didn't answer directly, and it was unknown how much approval her heart actually held for this answer.
"If you don't have the courage, I can really help you say it."
Shikime Natsu proposed again.
"No."
Himeno Yuki refused decisively, her brows furrowing even tighter.
"I don't want to become the minority..."
This was the girl's truest thought.
As long as one is in a class, there will be a majority and a minority. If it were other classes, maybe there would be a scattered few in the minority.
But in Class B, Himeno Yuki felt that if she stood out, she would become the sole minority. She didn't like this feeling.
"But didn't you also become the minority by choosing to fake illness and come out just now? Everyone else is inside happily singing karaoke."
Shikime Natsu hit the nail on the head.
"..."
The girl choked.
She opened her mouth but found she couldn't refute it. Mn, the thing she did indeed didn't seem like what the majority would do.
By leaving gatherings frequently, she had also become one of the few.
She hadn't thought of this point at all. She just felt that if she participated, then she was the majority; she completely hadn't thought about things like leaving halfway.
She miscalculated.
The girl wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. To think she had just told Shikime Natsu she didn't want to be the minority, and in the result... she was basically the minority.
____
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